NEW manager, new qualifying campaign... the usual old story for Wales, I’m afraid.

NEW manager, new qualifying campaign... the usual old story for Wales, I’m afraid.

In more ways than one, too, for this was an opening match which will give James Collins and his manager nightmares – just as the first game of the Euro 2010 campaign did.

Back then Wales crashed to a 1-0 defeat in Montenegro after Collins carelessly dawdled on the ball and was caught in possession by Mirko Vucinic who raced forward to score, win the game and set Wales on the back-foot right from the start of the group.

Last night Collins’ and Wales’ opening game woes returned, this time after he was sent off in the 25th minute for a wild lunge on Belgium right-back Guillaume Gillet which saw Swedish referee Stefan Johannesson instantly brandish a red card.

Wales were up against it anyway, but any hope they had of somehow upsetting the world order and defeating the star-studded Belgians disappeared at that point. Down to 10 men, they inevitably succumbed to Belgian pressure and possession, although in the end it took set-piece goals from defenders Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen to win the day for the visitors.

John Toshack walked after that Montenegro defeat almost two years ago to the day. Although we obviously can’t expect that of new boss Chris Coleman, he already knows his side face a task of Everest-like proportions if they are to reach Brazil 2014.

Win the home games and sneak something on the travels was the Wales mantra going into this campaign. Already that theory is right out of the window and somehow the team have to regroup and come back firing in Serbia on Tuesday night.

That one is hardly going to be easy, either, and there is a real possibility the doomsday scenario we feared early on could really be upon us... two games, nil points and Wales bottom of the group.

Gary Speed, who would have been 43 years of age today, had been building everything towards this point when he was in charge, but since the tragedy surrounding him Wales have played four matches, lost the lot and not even scored a single goal.

The only real inspiration going forward last night came from Gareth Bale, who offered tantalising glimpses of his genius. But Bale was starved of possession, not given the ball in dangerous areas and even he can’t beat teams with that lack of service.

Coleman, already shorn of key figures like Bellamy, Taylor, Hennessey, Collison and Ledley, was handed another blow just before kick-off when Liverpool’s £15million man Joe Allen also had to withdraw because of a stomach bug.

The Welsh boss was forced into a reshuffle, pushing Collins’ centre-back partner Ashley Williams into a holding midfield role and reinstating the otherwise dropped Darcy Blake into the back four.

It wasn’t a position Williams was completely unfamiliar with, having filled the identical role at this very ground three years ago when a Aaron Ramsey inspired Wales battered Scotland 3-0 under John Toshack’s watch in a friendly international.

But whereas Williams has developed into Wales’ finest defender, a midfield player he is not and early on he was part of a side having to chase around as Belgium began on the front foot, their silky skill, pace and constant movement very much to the fore, although they lacked cutting edge up front.

Wales decided the best way to combat the extra ability their visitors clearly possessed was to hustle, bustle and force Belgium into mistakes, while choosing a route one offensive approach of their own as they used deep balls pumped up towards Steve Morison as their main weapon.

It was from one of those moves Wales became the first team to really threaten, Morison flicking on from a free kick, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermalen getting into a mess and David Edwards stole in to put the ball into the side netting as Kompany hesitated.

That moment, coupled with a couple of lung-busting Bale breaks down the right hand side when he skinned the Belgium defence, gave the Welsh fans hope, but that optimism was dashed in the 25th minute when Collins’ horror moment arrived.

The big West Ham man had gone forward for a free-kick as Wales went down the aerial route again, but he seemed slow getting back as the ball broke to Eden Hazard and Belgium began a counter of their own. By the time Hazard had passed on to Gillet, Collins was still out of position and tried to make amends with a robust sliding tackle.

However, Mr Johannesson deemed Collins got his timing badly wrong as he lunged high from behind and instantly brandished a red card. Collins, his team-mates and the Welsh fans appeared shocked at the decision, but the Swedish official was not going to reverse it. Nor should he have done... it was a bad challenge and I’m afraid Collins had to go.

An already mountainous task suddenly appeared nigh on impossible for Wales and it was only going to be a matter of time before Belgium, who you sensed could still go up a couple of gears, picked them off with their intricate passing.

How ironic then that when the Belgians did duly take the lead four minutes before half-time the goal should come from a set-piece, the area of the field where Wales were the ones hoping to threaten most. Sadly the Welsh defence switched off as Mertens swept over a corner from the left, permitting Kompany to sneak in ahead of them at the near post and bullet his header into the net.

A man down, a goal down, Coleman knew he needed to get his players into the dressing room at half-time and regroup, but quite what Wales did to get back into this game even the manager would have been struggling to fathom.

Predictably the second half began with Belgium dominating possession and forcing Wales back, but they still lacked any penalty box vibrancy even though West Brom’s Romelu Lukaku was sent on for the lacklustre Kevin Mirallas in a bid to offer that presence around goal.

In fact it was left-back Vertonghen who offered their greatest threat, linking superbly with Hazard before drilling a fierce shot into the side netting.

Wales’ only hope, it appeared more and more, was a moment of sheer magic from Bale and the Tottenham man very nearly provided the inspiration off his own back in the 60th minute. First Bale won a free kick, racing one way then the other as four Belgian defenders chased around him like the Pacman game, in the end having to resort to bundling him over.

The free kick was fully 30 yards out, but Bale stepped up and drove a ferocious shot goalwards which Thibaut Courtois had to act smartly to beat away just as the ball appeared to be swerving into the net.

While Bale always offered something, too many of Wales' other players were finding the going tough and Coleman tried to change things by sending on Vokes and Robson-Kanu to offer fresh legs in place of the struggling Church and Morison, while he also replaced Edwards, who had run his socks off, with Leicester’s Andy King.

It was to no avail, though, and whereas Bale came agonisingly close with his free-kick, Belgium’s response was to thunder home a similar effort eight minutes from time. Ramsey conceded a free-kick and Bale's Spurs colleague Vertonghen stepped up and drove an unstoppable left foot effort into the far corner of Myhill’s net.

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